Take 17 Day before my first retightening!

Well today is January 31st and the plan is for me to go and get my first retightening tomorrow Feb 1st. I have been beyond excited for this day since my install day but here is the bad news....We are suppose to have a freaking blizzard tomorrow with up to a foot of snow coming down and it starts tonight getting worse by noon tomorrow! My appt is at 1:30 pm! Yeah so it pretty much sucks right now. I don't think it will be safe enough to drive in that, but I am hoping that the weather holds out and I am able to get it done. This is the retightening that is included in my SL package but I am afraid if I do not make it I'll have to pay the retightening cost. But safety first so I'll se what happens. I tried contacting my consultant today but her shop is closed on Mondays so I guess I'll hear from her tomorrow.

Life with locs has been great so far. I know some people go through rough patches but since being natural this is the best I have felt. With my hair being so coarse and tightly coiled I don't think I'll ever miss my hair before SL. It was just too much work! Even my good hair days weren't like this because they were gone the next day and I was back to struggling. I will never miss my perm days and the BEST thing I ever did was go natural and go with SL's!

Well that is all for now! I'll wait and see what happens tomorrow!

Take 16 (Wash Day and Weigh in)

Well I washed my hair yesterday and I survived!!! I have to admit I had butterflies thinking I would mess it up but I came through it and I think only one loc looks a little suspect on slipping. I'll have to keep and eye on it.

I weighed in this morning and guess what??? I am 128 lbs!!! YES! One pound down from last week. I have been killing it at the gym so my hard work is paying off and I can even see my muscles in my arms and shoulders coming back!

I have to go to work so until next time...

Take 15 ( Compliment)

I got a compliment yesterday. It was not my first but this one really stood out. I was at a nursing fair at my job and a black women possibly in her early 40's approached me and asked me about my hair. I informed her that they were sisterlocks and we talked about why I loved this natural hair option. After a while she started asking me about my grad school program and if I was planning on staying with the organization after graduation. I told her yes and we began to talk at length about me joining the black nurses association. It was then discovered that she is very high up in the organization and my jaw dropped when I found out who she was! I am very excited about this run in and I am very happy that my natural hair was what initiated the introduction.

Take 14 (Weigh in)

This will be quick because I have to go to work but I weighed in and I am 129.8 lbs. I am very excited that I have lost weight and my goal has been 1 pound per week so this is good. I have started doing my resistance exercises again so hopefully that will really start getting  me back to where I want to be.

Btw....locs are looking excellent! Until next time...

Take 13 ( Day 3)

I had my sisterlocks for 3 days and I am still in love. I love the ease of it and I love the fact that it is easy and it's my natural hair. I went up to my job today for the first time with my SL's and the reactions varied from absolutely loving it to no reaction at all. The first person to say something was one of the older black women that I always chat with while at work. The first thing she said to me was how much she loved my hair and she reached up and touched it. She also wanted to know where I got it done. I told her and because of the fact that she was at work she hurried off. A few of my white friends loved it as well. The younger black women that I ran into talked with me but mentioned nothing of my hair...I don't know what they were thinking but they kept it to themselves.  All and all I was pleased because I am pleased with myself. I was however very curious how they would respond. When I am actually back at work I'll probably get a better idea of what people think about it.

As far as everything else goes my second semester in grad school starts monday and things will get pretty hectic at that point. I am determined to really give this semester 100%. My g.p.a was a 3.5 last semester but there is no worst feeling than knowing you could have done better and I know I could have. So this time it's balls to the wall. I am so happy that my hair is one less thing to worry about. Due to my schedule I might not be able to blog as much as I have been but you never know... I might only blog monthly( or at retightenings) to show changes and a quick weekly blog to monitor my weight.

My next retightening is Feb 1st. This one is part of my sisterlock package. After that I am going no closer together than every 6 weeks. I don't care how fast my hair grows. It's all we have budgeted for and in 2011 the budget runs the show. I promise to be more aware of where my money is going and while sisterlocks is a great investment it can also become way too costly which is why I am sticking to my 6 week schedule. Thank god my consultant is super fast. It makes it easier on my pocket book.

I had no intention of this being such a long post but it's good to have somewhere to write down things that are on your mind. I have a lot of things coming up with going back to work, school starting back up, beginning my sisterlock journey, among other things so I just want to make sure I stay focused with my eye on the prize. There is a purpose for everything that I am doing so I need to remember that when I hit rough times. Until next time...

Take 12 (Installation)

Okay I am starting to think this wasn't meant to be because this is my 5th attempt at posting this and I have managed to delete them all!!! UGH! But on to the good news...

I am officially Sisterlocked!Woohoo! I feel fantastic and my hair is beyond ridiculous (In a good way)! I am feeling a freedom and a pride in my hair that I have NEVER felt before. THIS is how I want my daughter to feel growing up. I never want her to feel ashamed of her hair simply because it's unique. I woke up this morning took off my bonnet, spritzed and finger combed my hair and there you have it! Perfect and ready to go using nothing but what god gave me. What could be better than this? I NEVER felt this good on my BEST perm day. No regrets, no looking back, only moving forward. I am happier with my self and my appearance than I have EVER been and all I had to do was be me. How fantastic is that? Words really can't describe how I am feeling but I am doing my best to let you know that this was worth every tear I had while transitioning. Every rough patch after my big chop, and dealing with every irritating comments from friends, family, and co-workers. This is freedom and I am loving every minute of it. And the best part is....it's only day 1!

Details


Installation Time: 10.5 hours
Starting Hair Lenght: 5 inches
Side Note: Apparently during my install my consultant came to the conclusion that my hair is not as dense as she originally thought ( Wonders never cease amaze me).
Consultant: Shaun @ Your Natural Image www.yournaturalimage.com

And here are the pics!

Take 11 (The Night Before...)

Well I have washed my hair and I have braided it into sections but not the four that my consultant asked for. My hair is too short (5 inches) and too dense/coarse...whatever to plait into four sections without blow drying and no product. I guess I will be apologizing profusely tomorrow for not following directions but that request was impossible.

How am  I feeling? Well...the only thing I am tense about is taking my daughter to daycare for the first time to get my SL's installed. Other than that I am cool as a cucumber. I was beyond excited this morning but now that all I have to do is get up and go in the morning I am just ready to be loc'd. I have been waiting for three weeks now since getting my test locs and it's time.

This is pretty short because I have to be up in 6 hours to get the kids together and be on my way so I guess I should call it a night. I can't wait to post my installation pics and the final look. Until next time...

Take 10 (Weigh in and Happy New Years!)

First off Happy NewYears! In all I had a wonderful 2010 and I am looking forward to a very busy but fulfilling 2011. I have 2 days until the BIG installation and I am very excited. I found a babysitter and everything has fallen into place regarding the very long installation process. I weighed in this morning and I am currently 131.6 lbs. Not very happy about this :(  due to the fact that  this week I have gained a pound....What can I say??? What went wrong? Well simply put I just need to stay focused and I became a victim of the holidays. That should be no excuse so I'll just keep moving. I will post pics of my last day with loose hair tomorrow and I will make sure to take pics of my installation process and post them on Tuesday. Until next time...